What are the symptoms of snoring with sleep apnea?
When excessive tissues in the throat relax during sleep, air passing through vibrates these tissues to produce snoring. When these tissues collapse in some heavy snorers, there may be increased resistance to or decrease in flow of air, or stopping of breathing. This is called sleep apnea. With each breathing disturbance the heart slows, blood pressure rises, blood and brain oxygen drop, and irregular heart beats may occur. Then an awakening may occur, usually too short to remember, and normal breathing resumes. Mild sleep apnea affects 24% of men and 9% of women, and may cause daytime sleepiness in about a fifth of these patients. Moderate to severe sleep apnea affects 9% of men and 4% of women, and causes a significant increase in the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes and sudden death. How is it diagnosed? Monitoring of sleep and breathing throughout the night, in a sleep disorders center, is the best way to diagnose sleep apnea. How is it treated? Moderate to severe
